Friday, August 20, 1999

August 20, 1999

"You know the first thing they should've taught you at hooker school? You get the money up front!"

Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson all learn the hard way that "there are six ways to roll a seven ... but only one way out of trouble," in Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature, "Hard Eight: Special Edition" [1996; CTS; A (2.35),PS; DS; R; 101m; EN:CC,EN; $27.95; 10/5].

"Sydney (Hall) is a deadpan professional gambler, who operates in the twilight casino world of Reno. He takes John (Reilly), a younger and somewhat naïve man, under his wing after what appears to be a chance encounter. As their relationship develops, John's confidence grows under Sydney's tutelage. He falls in love with a waitress and sometimes hooker, Clementine (Paltrow), and then falls into some bad company in the form of Jimmy (Jackson), an obnoxious and dangerous small-time crook who openly challenges Sydney's influence. Despite Sydney's attempts to keep him out of trouble, he is soon forced to intervene when John and Clementine kidnap an overzealous client and lose control of what becomes a violent situation. It's then that Jimmy plays his trump card: having learned of Sydney's previous illegal occupation, and the real reason Sydney took him under his wing, Jimmy plots a vicious blackmail."